1996 was a year that fluctuated for Petty. His musical career was great because him and the band had just toured with the legend Johnny Cash. Upon returning home in ’96, Petty and his wife of 22 years, Jane divorced. The struggle of being on the road so much for his career put a strain on his wife because she was forced to stay at home with their children. Among this and other things, Jane began to feel alone and isolated. From there she turned to drugs and alcohol to help cope with the depression she developed. Aside from substance abuse, when Petty was home she was verbally abusive towards him and their daughters making it miserable to be around her. He was unsure how to handle their marriage at that point. Being a rock star that was always touring, Petty had already developed his own addiction with heroin. He returned home one day where he found his wife passed out unconscious from an overdose. He knew something had to change at that point. Petty hoped that bringing Jane with him on his next tour would help change things. They had a good time but, being on the road constantly partying only worsened both of their conditions. Upon returning home, Petty realized a real change was in order. He moved out of the family home that they shared with their daughters and got a place of his own. Petty struggled in knowing how to deal with his wife and her problems in which he became alone and depressed as well. Their divorce was finalized in the fall of ’96 after many attempts on Petty’s part to find ways to help Jane. Even after the divorce, Petty still didn’t feel settled about his personal life, which made for a dark period for him.
Almost any rock and roll star engages with drugs but almost every rock and roll star in the late 70’s all the way through the 90’s battled the heroin epidemic. Tom Petty was one of those who did battle it. It always began from the lifestyle that they lived while touring. They were constantly partying when they weren’t making their music. And, during those years heroin was on the come up, especially for famous rock stars. Petty had been doing drugs the entire time he was making music but it became serious for him once his divorce had been finalized. Petty felt like he had betrayed his daughters by leaving in which his relationship with them dwindled for a short time. He also, still very much loved his wife but didn’t know how to help her which made him extremely depressed in which heroin was the only way to cope. Aside from Petty developing an addiction, his fellow band mates Howie Epstein and Benmont Trench were struggling with addiction as well. Thus making it very hard for him to get clean.
Despite Petty’s addiction, music was still a focus for him. He and the Heartbreakers returned to the studio and began working on their album Echo. The album was released in the Spring of ’99 making it the band’s tenth studio made album, but eleventh overall album. Having gone through a divorce and while battling his addiction, he wrote the music for the album with a taste of his recent struggles. Petty was there writing their music but didn’t feel in control because of his addiction. Even though he had so many friends and people that cared about him, he was never really open about the divorce or how he felt concerning it. People knew the details only from what he wrote about in his music. The album is noticeably different from others in which Petty purely just sounds depressed and as if he’s falling apart. No doubt that it is still a Tom Petty album, which even his worst is better than most. That being said this doesn’t change the fact that his struggles are very apparent throughout the album. Attempting to get your life together while also making an album had to be tough on him yet, he did it. Echo was definitely meaningful for the band itself. It was the last album that they made with help from Rick Rubin. Mike Campbell, Petty’s co-captain was also the lead singer in one of the songs for the first time. Echo was also the last album that was made with Howie Epstein.
Throughout the making and touring of Echo, another big problem that had arisen among the Heartbreakers was that Howie Epstein was falling apart day by day in front of each and every one of them. Petty’s addiction had just kicked off while Epstein’s had been on going for a long time. Every member of the band, including Petty tried to give Epstein some sort of direction in hopes of him getting better. He was missing shows, shoots, and studio sessions, which was having a detrimental effect on the band itself. Everyone including friends and family tried to give Epstein guidance but felt as though it was hopeless. Petty in particular didn’t feel he voiced enough because he didn’t want to seem as though he was moseying among Epstein’s personal life. This was just the beginning of Howie Epstein’s downfall.